The Super-Slim Xperia Tablet Z Feels Like Sony’s Finest Tablet Yet
After Sony released a string of curious Android tablets that failed
to catch on, the company had no choice but to go back to the drawing
table and try something different. That something different wound up
being the Xperia Tablet Z,
easily one of its most conventional designs yet — a choice that may end
up paying off nicely. Now that the decidedly non-kooky Xperia Tablet Z
is gearing up for an appearance stateside, we tracked one down here at MWC to get a glimpse at what Sony’s tantalizingly thin tab brings to the table.
First things first — if you’re a fan of minimalist industrial design,
then you’ll find a lot to like here. Sony’s bright 10.1-inch Reality
Display (running at 1,920×1200 no less) is the clear focal point of the
device’s face, and there’s nothing else save for a Sony logo, an IR
blaster in the corner, and an easily missed 2-megapixel camera. The
display is also aided by one of Sony’s Mobile Bravia engines, which
means colors can easily take on a lurid cast unless you dial it down.
Meanwhile, the back is a matte black slab devoid of any detail other
than a small Xperia logo and an 8.1-megapixel camera in the top- right
corner. One could easily call it dull, but “understated” feels like a
better fit because of how nice it feels.
The Tablet Z weighs in at a scant 1.09 pounds, and its trim waistline
is only 6.99mm thick — for a bit of perspective, the iPad mini is just a
hair thicker at 7.22mm. In order to keep the weight as low as possible
Sony resorted to an almost entirely plastic body. That sounds like the
recipe for a chintzy-feeling tab, but that’s definitely not the case
here. Despite being very light, the Tablet Z has a remarkably solid,
premium feel to it. There’s a little bit of give to be felt if you grab
the thing by the sides and give it a twist so it may suffer from some
long-term issues down the road, but it’s a far cry from some of the
overly creaky, plasticky tablets that still pepper the market.
A quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset and 2GB of RAM are tucked away
inside the Tab Z’s waterproof chassis, and my time with the Tablet Z was
largely lag-free. When faced with the prospect of putting out tens of
devices for public consumption at Mobile World Congress, most companies
typically try to do something to keep we nerds from mucking around with
them too much. Not so here — I was able to download and install Quadrant
from the Google Play Store to get a slightly better idea of what the
Tablet Z is capable of. Over the course of three trials the Tablet Z
consistently put up scores in the low to mid-7,000s and topped out at
7601 — devices like the Nexus 10 and Asus Transformer Pad Infinity TF700
usually hover around the mid-4,000s.
Granted, this is a synthetic benchmark and doesn’t provide a complete
picture of performance, but it’s clear that Xperia Tablet Z is no
slouch.
I only really have one gripe with Xperia Tablet Z — the custom UI
that Sony has loaded on top of Android. Longtime readers may know that
I’m an avid proponent of leaving Android untouched, and Sony’s
implementation just doesn’t do it for me. In fairness, it’s lighter and
less cumbersome than some of the other overlays currently clogging up
other Android devices so you may disagree, but the occasional bit of
visual stutter while rifling through menus, and the fact that background
images were distorted when set, raised some flags. That said, Sony has
added some neat features to help make up for it, such as a universal
remote app that doubles as a programming guide, and a revamped new
gallery that displays geotagged photos on a globe.
At an early morning press address yesterday, Sony Mobile CEO Kuni
Suzuki pointed to a renewed focus on bringing the company’s
“cutting-edge technology and resources” to Sony Mobile, and confidently
called 2013 a “breakthrough year.” Naturally, it’s too early to tell if
that actually pans out, but certainly not impossible. The Xperia Tablet Z
is a (hopefully not so) rare return to form for Sony, and here’s hoping
that the rest of 2013 is full of products as well-executed as this one.
JADID TECH
